Visions
Kai
The days dragged on as I lay prisoner in my own bed. Nightmares of the Academy rang out vividly in my dreams. I couldn't cry, I couldn't scream. There was absolutely nothing I could do to stop them from coming. The longer they went on, the worse they got. I could see Ace's face clearly, the world shrouded in darkness. He called me by name, by Fury… He shouted, but his words were muted.
His face was illuminated in red, flames licking at his sides. It was as if the devil himself possessed him. He cackled, laughing at my pathetic attempts to flee. No matter how far I ran, he was right at my heels.
Every time, I woke up crying, screaming. I called for him, screaming his name, "Aerrow!" Tears streamed from my eyes, pooling in my blankets. There were no breaks from the night terrors—my sheets barely had time to dry before the next overwhelmed me.
Each and every time, no matter how soon after the last, he came running, fear in his eyes. He looked at me as if the Dark Ace himself had tried to take me away, embracing me as if I would disappear at any moment. "Kai, Kai! I'm here, everything's fine." Weary-eyed and exhausted, he made it his mission to ensure my happiness, no matter the cost.
He pulled me into his arms, covering me with my blanket. I found solace in his chest, wondering if I could bury myself deep enough. I never wanted to open my eyes, for fear the monsters in my dream would materialize. "They're here… they're coming for me," I whimpered. "They're coming back…"
"You're safe," he breathed. "They can't get you here…" He pulled the blanket closer to me. I felt like a child with a vivid imagination, their parents running at the slightest drop of a hat. I was pathetic—a burden to those who cared for me.
Piper rushed into the room, a lantern in her hand. "How is she?"
Aerrow shook his head, looking at me. "Piper's here, Kai."
"She's dead… She's… dead…"
"What is she talking about?" Aerrow asked her, confused.
Piper sighed, setting the lantern on my desk. "It's just a nightmare, Kai. This has to stop."
"Go away!" I screamed, shoving her aside. "Leave me alone! No one can fix this! None of you can change what happened, so just leave me alone!" I shifted in Aerrow's grasp, wriggling my way to the other end of the bed. "She's dead; you can't change that!"
"This has to stop, Aerrow," Piper repeated. "She can't keep doing this!"
"What about you?!" he objected. "What about the nightmares you had after the Academy! Which one of us complained about your problems?"
Sitting silent in her chair, she rotated back and forth. "What can we do, huh? Everyone on the ship is worried. Finn's an absolute wreck; Junko is scared to come near her room. She even has Stork upgrading the ship's defenses! This is insane! It has to stop!"
"I thought, if anyone, you would be the one to understand!" I cried. "Just leave! Get out, both of you!" I felt like a huge weight sat on my shoulders. It made me question if I would ever be able to sleep soundly again. I balled up my blanket, clutching it to my chest.
Piper rose from the chair, glaring at Aerrow. "I'm going to bed. If you want to join us for breakfast, Kai, I'll set a plate for you, okay?" She picked up her lantern and stepped away, leaving the door cracked.
"I'm afraid, Aerrow…," I mumbled, pressing my face into the blanket. "I can't do this anymore. Every night, it's like I'm dying. They're all trying to kill me. It… it all seems so real."
Aerrow cautiously crawled across the bed, sitting beside me. "You know… you never told me what happened. It can't be healthy to leave all of that locked up in there."
"I've been trying to forget… It won't leave. I can't get rid of it." I leaned over, resting my head on his shoulder. "Don't make me do that again…"
He laughed quietly, pulling the blanket from my arms. "I promise, you'll never have to go back to the Academy."
"No," I corrected him, "don't ever make me fight the Dark Ace again. I don't want to see his face. I can't…"
He froze, his hands knotting around the sheet. "…I promise, Kai. Never again." He unrolled the blanket, laying it on top of us. "You don't have to tell me what happened. I understand if you don't want to talk about it."
"It's not that," I sighed, sniffing in. "I don't want to relive it. Every night, I replay the whole experience in my head. I can see every detail, I feel every ounce of pain, over and over again. It's not that I don't want to tell you…"
He glanced over, resting his hand on my knee. "Whenever you're ready. I know everyone's curious, but they can wait. Eventually, you'll have to tell someone, though. We need to know what happened down there."
"Why?" I asked, lifting my head. "Was the information that important to you? Can't you let it go?"
He sighed. "That's not why, Kai. I need to know what happened down there so we can all make sure it never happens again."
I nodded. "I get it… Regardless of what happened, I still had a job to do."
He patted my knee, removing the blanket from him. "We're all here for you, Kai. They are just as much your team as they are mine." He rose to his feet, stepping closer to the door. "When you're ready to talk, we're here to listen."
As he grasped the door, I spoke up, the tears flooding back. "I screwed up, Aerrow…" Everything froze. Aerrow locked up against the door, staring at me quizzically. "I had the chance to get everything you ever wanted out of them. I got to work with him—The Dark Ace, himself." I laughed at myself, shaking my head. "And I screwed it all up…"
The door handle clicked as Aerrow released it, staring blankly at me. He remained still, frozen in his tracks.
"The one person I trusted… The only person who knew our secret… They killed her, Aerrow. She was the only friend I had and they murdered her in front of me. She was scared and crying, and they kicked her off of a bridge to make a point!" Even the blanket couldn't hold back my tears any longer.
"Every day, it was senseless fighting. I fought until my knuckles bled. I had no other choice… It was fight or get beaten up. If the students didn't get to you, the instructors did. No one held back, none of them did. Even the girls—oh, the girls! You'd think they'd have some remorse! I can't even imagine what Finn went through…"
"They separated us from the moment we signed our names. They thought we were family, and tore us apart at the notion. We were a threat together, and they made sure Finn and I had as little contact as possible."
"Every meal, it was assigned seating. No one cared; if you stayed at your table, you ate alone; but, leave your seat, and you risk going days without food, or worse! I tried to sit with Finn once and they caught me. They locked me into a room with no windows, no bedding, and not once did they bring me food.
"Three days in that room. It took me three days in that damned room to realize why the Academy truly existed. All I saw down there were a bunch of kids being brainwashed into compliance. They strip you of your free will, your spirit, your hopes, dreams, and any semblance of a normal life. If you wanted to be a Talon, you were going to be one of them. They want complete control of when you eat, sleep, breathe, and exactly how you do it.
"The best part is—on Cyclonia, it's still the same. Everyone has their place on Cyclonia. It's an over-sized, over-crowded version of the Academy! It's so sad, it actually makes me laugh! A kid dropped one of the crates he was carrying, Ace threw him off of the bridge where he stood, and he continued giving orders as if nothing happened."
I closed my eyes, my hands knotted together. Nothing I did helped calm my nerves. "When I thought I had a chance—finally had a chance to make a difference—Ace shot down anything and everything I threw at him. For a moment, I thought he could be human. I decided to take the papers with a grain of salt and listen to what he had to say. I'll admit, he had some valid points here and there… But, human? He's far from it…
"The Dark Ace is a delusional, sociopathic creation of Cyclonis, herself. Whatever remnants of the man he used to be no longer exist. He's a shell; he may say he's under his own orders, but I guarantee you it's a complete crock. It's plain to see—he's just another zombie in the firing squad, dancing on the strings of the puppet master above him.
"I can't sleep because of them, Aerrow. I close my eyes and I want to rip the skin off my arms before they can even grab me."
"Kai…"
"And all I want to do is sleep but I can't because every time I close my eyes I see the face of a girl that didn't have to die! She died because of me…"
Aerrow stepped forward, sitting down beside me once more. He wrapped his arms around me and spoke quietly, "I'm so sorry, Kai…"
"Please… don't leave…," I begged, my hands tearing at his shirt.
"I'm not going anywhere."